President Laurent-Desire Kabila, marking two years in
power, on Monday spoke of the need for democracy to
end instability and war in the Great Lakes region.
In a national address in Kinshasa broadcast by state
television, he called for a "general mobilisation...to
crush the invaders" and prevent turning the country
"into a nation of slaves". "Let our
streams, rivers, mountains, which belong to us, become
historic battlefields for the defence of the fatherland,"
he said.

News organisations described Monday's anniversary as
"bitter", characterised by arrests and a
"forced parade". The Associated Press said
government troops arrested dozens of activists as soldiers,
athletes, civil servants and state-corporation employees
were "commanded, and some given money and clothing,
to participate in the six-hour parade through the streets
of Kinshasa".

ASADHO slams Kabila's human rights record

The main DRC human rights group, ASADHO, has characterised
Kabila's rule as two years of "violence and disintegration".
In a statement, received by IRIN on Tuesday, ASADHO
warned of a "disaster in the making". "The
tyrannical attitude and behaviour, the systematic sabotage
of the democratisation process, the lack of transparency
in decision-making, the worsening security situation
- exacerbated by the new war - seriously compromise
national unity," the statement said. Democracy
and human rights, without which there could be no end
to the DRC crisis, were under threat, it added. "The
human rights situation in two years of the Kabila regime
closely resembles that of 30 years of the Mobutu regime,
only much more worrying and ominous".

Kabila's plan for DRC "stifled by aggression"

"Aggression by foreigners" against the DRC
has "stifled the government's efforts to restructure
the country since its rise to power", an official
at the DRC embassy in Nairobi told IRIN on Tuesday.
Deo Safari said Kabila's plan for reconstruction had
been thwarted "because the aggressors moved in
and are destroying our economy, killing our people
and grabbing our gold, timber and other resources".

Ousted rebel leader speaks of "coup"

Ousted rebel leader, Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, has said
he is the victim of a coup within the Rassemblement
congolais pour la democratie (RCD), Radio France Internationale
reported. According to the Rwanda News Agency (RNA),
a statement read by rebel spokesman Commander Sylvain
Mbuki said a new leadership would be announced shortly
and that until then, the RCD military leaders were
in charge. Wamba told RNA the decision was taken unilaterally
by his opponents within the RCD.

In an earlier interview with the Tanzanian 'Guardian'
daily, Wamba had spoken of disagreements between the
RCD's political and military wings. He said the military
wanted a quick victory to get rid of Kabila as quickly
as possible, whereas the political leaders were more
interested in long-term changes for the country. "Our
prime task is to educate the people so they can choose
their own leader," he said. "If we fail,
a new Mobutu or Kabila will just turn up." He
warned that "arbitrary decision-making" within
the RCD could simply lead to the emergence of another
dictator.

Deo Safari, at the DRC embassy in Nairobi, hailed the
reshuffle in the RCD leadership. He claimed it came
about "because the majority [of RCD members] want
to speak to the government".

BURUNDI: CNDD-FDD angry over Ndadaye sentences

The leader of the rebel CNDD-FDD faction, Jean-Bosco
Ndayikengurukiye, has criticised the five death sentences
handed down by the Supreme Court in the murder trial
of ex-president Melchior Ndadaye, accusing the authorities
of seeking to "eliminate five annoying witnesses"
to the affair. In a press statement, received by IRIN,
he claimed the sentences "only affect those who
carried out the killing, while those who planned it...have
not been troubled". He said the trial should have
been conducted by an international tribunal.

Rebels reportedly threatening nickel prospecting

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) says Burundian rebels
operating from Tanzania are trying to prevent an Austro-Canadian
mining company from carrying out a feasibility study
of nickel resources in the Musongati area of southern
Burundi. The resources are believed to be the third
largest in the world, according to JRS. It said the
Apostolic Nuncio in Bujumbura had advised a Polish
religious community based in Musongati to leave the
mission due to insecurity in the area. UNHCR has denied
mounting claims that armed rebels are hiding in the
refugee camps of western Tanzania. A recent article
in the Tanzanian 'Guardian' daily said police in the
Kasulu district of Kigoma had impounded 55 firearms
and 1,212 rounds of ammunition from refugees residing
in the camps.

REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Call for more humanitarian assistance

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for ROC, Georg Charpentier,
has warned that both the humanitarian community and
the government do not have the means to ensure an improvement
in the situation over the next three to six months.
Addressing a news briefing in New York recently, he
said he was launching a "short-term and focused"
appeal to help with two main initiatives: the return
and resettlement of displaced people and a programme
to buy up arms from the militias. Charpentier noted
that an alarming aspect of the ROC crisis had been
the enrolment of about 15,000 youths into military
action and a lack of funds to reintegrate them into
civilian life. In addition, some 350,000 people were
displaced mostly in southern parts of the country which
were outside the reach of humanitarian agencies.

On the security situation, he acknowledged that the
Angolan rebel group UNITA "wished to maintain
a certain positioning" in southern parts of ROC.
However there was no major evidence of UNITA's involvement
in the conflict, although there had been references
to training camps maintained by UNITA. He also noted
a proliferation of militia groups who did not necessarily
associate themselves with a particular opposition faction.

ANNOUNCEMENT: MEETING

The UNOCHA Senior Humanitarian Adviser for the DRC,
Charles Petrie and Paola Emerson, from the Office of
the Regional Humanitarian Adviser will brief this week's
meeting on their recent mission to Goma and Kinshasa.
Please note that the meeting will take place between
10am and 11am on Wednesday, 19 May in the OCHA Conference
room.

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